Pilot
"Pilot" is the first episode of Season One of CBS's The Thunderbolts. It was written by Bruno Heller and directed by Danny Cannon. It is the first episode of the series overall, and premiered on September 26, 2012. Synopsis S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Maria Hill teams up with S.W.O.R.D. Director Abigail Brand to collect a group of supervillains to take on the high crime that the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men are too busy or disbanded to take on. However, Trask Industries discover this and send a Sentinal to execute the villains. Plot Video footage of the Avengers fighting one another is shown. Captain America and Iron Man take the final fight as Cap is knocked down. Maria Hill, director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) and Abigail Brand, director of S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient World Observation and Response Department) are revealed to be watching the video and showing the footage to a group of senators and other government advisers. Hill and Brand explain that this event, known as "Civil War", led to the Avengers being half it's original size, an underground group of superheroes that has since sizzled out, and the Fantastic Four to being disbanded. Then, footage of Scarlet Witch is shown freaking out and causing a powerful blast, which depowered 90% of the world's mutants, including several of the X-Men. This event caused the X-Men to retreat from crime-fighting. Now, there is no one to protect the world from it's several threats. Senator Robert Kelly asks where they are going with this. Hill reveals her and Brand's intent to create a new team divised of the supervillains. They agree to help out in the fighting in exchange for shorter sentences. Kelly reluctantly agrees. On the S.H.I.E.L.D. prison, the Raft, several cells are shown. Hill and Brand pick eleven people from the cells to include on their "team". Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier, an international assassin who worked for Hydra; Warren Worthington III/Archangel, a former member of the X-Men who was mind-controlled by Mister Sinister; Felicia Hardy/Black Cat, an acrobatic thief who fought Spider-Man; Eddie Brock/Venom, a former reporter who was transformed into the monsterous Venom by an alien symbiote; Marcus Scarlotti/Whiplash, an assassin who uses electric whips; John Allerdyce, a pyrokenetic mutant who worked for Magneto; Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, a former billionaire who used his smarts and technology to fight Spider-Man; Ophelia Sarkissian/Viper, the former head of Hydra; Sergei Kravinoff/Kraven the Hunter, a strength-enhanced villain; Rick Jones/A-Bomb, a former friend of the Hulk's who became another gamma monster; and Lester Poindexter, an assassin who was a great enemy of Daredevil. Hill and Brand call the team the Thunderbolts and reveal it's identity to the public. Reed Richards and Tony Stark, two superheroes who led the Fantastic Four and Avengers, continue their work to create a large supernatural prison to keep villains in. However, they are angry to learn S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.W.O.R.D. have created a new team in their absence, made up of villains. Trask Industries, who think mutants and all superhumans should be exterminated, decide to release their Sentinals, large robotic machines that can locate non-humans and kill them. Hill discovers the Sentinals and releases the Thunderbolts to defend the streets. Initially, the team does not work together and are easily defeated. However, they soon realize that if they work together they can defeat the Sentinal. Finally, the robot is defeated and Bolivar Trask, the CEO of Trask Industries is arrested for his work. Even though the Thunderbolts were originally against the idea of helping the good guys, after learning how easy it will be and they get time off their sentences, they warm up to the idea. Cast Starring *Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier *Ben Hardy as Warren Worthington III/Archangel *Felicity Jones as Felicia Hardy/Black Cat *Topher Grace as Eddie Brock/Venom *Falk Hentschel as Marcus Scarlotti/Whiplash *Aaron Stanford as John Allerdyce/Pyro *Charles Esten as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin *Mallory Jansen as Ophelia Sarkissian/Viper *Zach Braff as Sergei Kravinoff/Kraven the Hunter *James Wolk as Rick Jones/A-Bomb *Drew Roy as Lester Poindexter/Bullseye Guest Starring *Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill *Lake Bell as Abigail Brand *Clancy Brown as Bolivar Trask *Miles Teller as Reed Richards *Christian Slater as Tony Stark Trivia *The episode achieved 14.50 million U.S. live viewers. *The episode received generally positive reviews. It scored a 73% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 55 out of 100 on Metacritic, and an 8.6/10 on IGN. *The episode was rated TV-14 for D-L-V.